PARLOUR GAMES for MODERN FAMILIES

Unplugged Entertainment - No Electricity or Batteries Required

by Myfanwy Jones and Spiri Tsintziras

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New softcover book. 275 pages, published 2009

Parlour Games for Modern Families sets out to revive the tradition of indoor family games. Its authors want you to push aside the consoles, turn off the telly, and bring some mental stimulation, silliness and laughter, joy and connection back into your living room.

This book is bursting with games of logic and memory, word play, card games, role play, and rough and tumble. Not a single game requires equipment that you won't find in your average home: a pack of cards, a dictionary, an hour glass, dice, paper and pen. You can play to your heart's content without wasting a single natural resource - except perhaps the delicious cheese straws, recipe found herein.

Games are organised thematically and are cross-referenced for age-appropriateness. All are set out with clear rules and instructions. There are games that will challenge and stimulate you and games that will have you in fits; games that can last all night and games to fill that empty half-hour before tea; games for adults and older children and games for your four-year-old's birthday party.

With Parlour Games for Modern Families, a book for fun-lovers 4 -104, the authors want to wind back the clock. They want to remind you of games you'd forgotten and then a whole lot more. Remember: there is always time enough for playing. So gather the family together; ask over some friends. Warm the milk for hot cocoa. Play Squeak Piggy Squeak and watch the good feeling spread; see it grow exponentially. Whether you dip into it as the urge takes you, or read it from cover to cover, a very good time is guaranteed.

Chapters include:

• Preparing the Parlour - bringing games back into your life
• Paper and Pen? Just Tell Me When - games of writing and drawing, with pictures, with words, of strategy and with numbers
• The Show Must Go On - Games of Motion, Mystery and Make-believe, with blindfolds, of hide and seek, with a straight face, for rainy days
• Fancy Picking Plums, or Shall We Strip Jack Naked? - Games of Cards, Dice, Marbles, Knucklebones
• Words Big and Small, Long and Tall - Games Spoken Aloud, with guesses, with letters and words, with stories, to confuse and confound

About the authors

Myfanwy Jones is a games-obsessive and, as mother of two and aunty of 17, she has many great excuses to play. She has also published numerous articles and shoprt stories and her debut novel, The Rainy Season, was published in March 2009.

Spiri Tsintziras, along with her tribe of young and not-so-young research assistants, has re-discovered the joy of games in the writing of this book. When she is not playing games, she writes for work and pleasure, and has had many articles published in The Age.

You might also be interested in The Dangerous Book for Boys, The Daring Book for Girls and The Family Book - all have heaps of great ideas for 'unplugged entertainment'.

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Parlour Games for Modern Families - Myfanwy Jones and Spiri Tsintziras